I just noticed that Daniel Bryan is not focused on in the backlash ads. The whole theme of the show is the best of both brands are represented on the shows and DB isn’t focused.
Also, one of the only positives of the disastrous Greatest Royal Rumble was Bryan’s record setting performance. He was absent from the opening video on Raw highlighting the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Is this a Vince bias? Are they worried Bryan will get injured soon so don’t want us to get invested ? Is Bryans contract still up in September and has not committed to a new contract with the company?
The wwes treatment of Bryan had always been suspect. He’s been punished for getting over on his own before like when the had to leave NXT so the fans wouldn’t vote for him to win the first season or the 18 seconds thing with Sheamus. Each attempt to suppress him backfires. Funny, when they need a hook for mania he’s all over their media but now it’s minimal.
If they were worried about him getting injured, they wouldn’t have had him wrestle so much already. In terms of minutes wrestled, he’s probably wrestled more than Lesnar since he returned to WWE (this might be an exaggeration…).
They’ll porbably make mention of his Royal Rumble record on SmackDown with Big Cass then coming out and saying everyone’s talking about Daniel Bryan’s record but he eliminated Daniel Bryan and no one cares, no one cares when Bryan fails, they just give him a pass and keep pretending he’s a big deal etc.
If anything its the opposite. Unlike most of the roster it seems as though they have a 6 month plan for Bryan with the Big Cass feud delaying the inevitable feud with the Miz. Whether DB “wins” or “losses” against Big Cass it doesn’t even matter because the feud with the Miz will be huge either way. And it can transition into a title program or a tag-team program along the way.
Daniel Bryan will be a fixture of Smackdown live as much, if not more, than he has been the last year as GM.
As long as Bryan re-signs eventually and proves he can stay healthy for an extended period of time, he’ll be fine. I’d imagine WWE is terrified of putting a strap on him only to have him vacate it yet again.
If he doesn’t intend to re-sign and articulates that to WWE, then I’m guessing that we’re about to witness the time-honored tradition of having him put over as many guys as possible on his way out the door. And I wouldn’t blame them one bit.
I don’t think it’s cold feet necessarily, but I don’t think they see him as the star that he is. He will always be a main focal point, he’ll always make a bunch of money, but he will never be pushed to that next level, or to the level he was pushed to at WM30. I just think they have other ideas for what they think their product should be.
I’d lol so hard if the creative team kept this charade of not being cleared on tv until his contract expires. …like the brand new Eva Marie, something always delaying his in ring return.
I think they have realized that they have a commodity in him. I really think this was just something that fell in their laps. They must have had a certain amount of direction, storyline wise, planned ahead of time.
Most likely he just wasn’t figured in and now they are trying to fit him where it makes most sense.